JP2002334000A - Information processor and its method and recording medium and its program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To quickly select prescribed contents from many contents. SOLUTION: For example, when the contents of five kinds of formats ranging from a format 1 to a format 5 are present as the contents of a title 3, the contents of the five different formats are displayed as one contents on a selection screen for selecting contents. When contents 3 are selected, the five formats from the format 1 to the format 5 constituting the contents 3 are displayed. Then, a user selects and designates one of those formats ranging from the format 1 to the format 5.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus and method, a recording medium, and a program, and more particularly, to a method for easily and quickly selecting one content from a plurality of contents. , An information processing apparatus and method, a recording medium, and a program.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, compression techniques for audio data and video data have been advanced, and these data have been compressed in various compression formats and transmitted over transmission paths or recorded on recording media. .

[0003]

As a result, for example, when contents such as audio and video are registered in advance and the user selects a content selected from the registered contents, the On the selection screen, the title of the content is displayed together with the compression format. As a result, even if the contents have the same title, the titles corresponding to the number of compression formats are displayed, and the number of titles that can be displayed on one screen is substantially reduced. There has been a problem that it is difficult to quickly select one content from the contents.

The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and aims to allow a user to quickly and reliably select desired content from many contents.

[0005]

An information processing apparatus according to the present invention has a storage means for storing a plurality of identical contents having different formats and a selection screen for selecting a predetermined content from the plurality of contents. Display control means for displaying the same content having a different format as one content, first selection means for selecting one of the contents displayed on the selection screen, and first selection And a second selecting means for selecting one format content from the content selected by the means, and an output means for outputting the one format content selected by the second selecting means. Features.

[0006] The apparatus further comprises a detecting means for detecting a format of the recording medium for outputting the content, and the second selecting means can select a content in a format corresponding to the format detected by the detecting means.

When one content is selected by the first selection means, a format display means for displaying a format corresponding to the content, and a predetermined one of the formats displayed by the format display means are designated. And a second selection unit configured to select a content in a format corresponding to the format specified by the specification unit.

[0008] The content may be music data or video data.

According to the information processing method of the present invention, a storage step of storing a plurality of identical contents having different formats and a selection screen for selecting a predetermined content from the plurality of contents are displayed in the same format having different formats. A display control step of displaying the content as one content, a first selection step of selecting one of the contents displayed on the selection screen, and a first selection step are performed. A second selection step of selecting one format content from the selected contents, and an output step of outputting the one format content selected by the processing of the second selection step. I do.

[0010] The program of the recording medium of the present invention includes a storage step of storing a plurality of identical contents having different formats and a selection screen for selecting a predetermined content from a plurality of contents. Display control step of displaying the contents of the selection screen as one content, a first selection step of selecting one of the contents displayed on the selection screen, and selection by the processing of the first selection step A second selection step of selecting one format content from the selected contents, and an output step of outputting the one format content selected by the processing of the second selection step. And

[0011] The program of the present invention includes a storage step of storing a plurality of identical contents having different formats, and a selection screen for selecting a predetermined content from among the plurality of contents. A display control step of displaying one content, a first selection step of selecting one of the contents displayed on the selection screen,
Of selecting content of one format from the content selected by the processing of the selecting step
That causes a computer to execute a selection step of (i) and an output step of outputting the content of one format selected by the processing of the second selection step.

[0012] In the information processing apparatus and method, the recording medium, and the program according to the present invention, a selection screen for selecting a predetermined content from a plurality of contents is displayed.
The same content having a different format is displayed as one content.

[0013]

FIG. 1 shows a configuration example of an information providing system to which the present invention is applied. In this configuration example, the center 1 is connected to the terminals 41-1 to 41-n via the dedicated line 31, and the center 1
The content is provided to -1 to 41-n.

In the center 1, the authoring device 1
1 generates content and edits it as necessary. The content data output from the authoring device 11 is supplied to the processing unit 12 and is encrypted, compressed, or both by various methods prepared in advance, so that the content data having a different format is obtained. Is done. In this example, the content 21-1 of the first format, which is not processed at all, the content 21-2 of the second format encrypted by the method A, the content 21-3 of the format compressed by the method B, Method C
After the compression, the content 21-4 of the format encrypted by the method D, and further, the content 21-4 of the format compressed by the method E and encrypted by the method F,
Has been generated.

The contents 21-1 to 21-5 in these various formats processed by the processing unit 12 are supplied to the storage unit 14 and stored.

FIG. 1 shows only five types of contents 21-1 to 21-5 in which one content is substantially five different formats.
In practice, other content is also generated and stored.

In the center 1, a GUI module creating unit 13 creates a GUI module, and
, And stored as the GUI module 22.

The GUI module 22 has a function of displaying contents 21-1 to 21-5, which have substantially the same contents but different formats, as one content on a content selection screen. I have.

These contents and the GUI module 22
Is transmitted to the terminals 41-1 to 41-n via the dedicated line 31.

The terminal 41-1 causes the storage unit 51 to store the content transmitted from the center 1 via the dedicated line 31 and the GUI module 22. GUI module 22
Is selected from the contents stored in the storage unit 51.
A selection screen for selecting a predetermined content is generated.

The output module 52 reads out the content selected by the user 61 from the content stored in the storage unit 51 and outputs the content to the output interface 54. The output interface 54 has a recording medium 71- for recording contents in various formats.
1, 71-2 are mounted. Output interface 54
Has a function of detecting the format of the attached recording media 71-1 and 71-2.

The terminals 41-2 to 41-n also have the terminal 41-
1 has the same configuration as that of FIG.

Each user is connected to the nearest terminal 41-1 to 4
1-n goes to the place where it is located, and the recording medium 7 that the user has possessed or purchased on the spot.
1-j is attached to the terminal 41-i, the desired content is selected, and the desired content is purchased by recording it on the recording medium.

FIG. 2 shows the configuration of the terminal 41-1.
The CPU (Central Processing Unit) 101 has a ROM (Read
Only Memory) 102 or a RAM (Random Access Memory) 1 from the storage unit 108.
Various types of processing are executed in accordance with the program loaded in the program 03. The RAM 103 also stores data necessary for the CPU 101 to execute various types of processing, as appropriate.

CPU 101, ROM 102, and RAM 103
Are connected to each other via a bus 104. An input / output interface 105 is also connected to the bus 104.

The input / output interface 105 includes an input unit 106 including a keyboard and a mouse, a display including a CRT and an LCD, an output unit 107 including a speaker, a storage unit 108 including a hard disk, a modem, a terminal, and the like. A communication unit 109 composed of an adapter or the like is connected. The communication unit 109 performs communication processing via the network in addition to the dedicated line 31.

A drive 110 is connected to the input / output interface 105 as necessary.
21, an optical disk 122, a magneto-optical disk 123, a semiconductor memory 124, and the like are appropriately mounted, and a computer program read therefrom is installed in the storage unit 108 as necessary.

FIG. 2 shows only the terminal 41-1.
The other terminals 41-2 to 41-n have the same configuration as the terminal 41-1.

Next, referring to the flowchart of FIG.
The content registration processing in the center 1 will be described. First, in step S1, the authoring device 11 acquires a content. This content is obtained by reproducing a recording medium such as a magnetic tape or a disk, received by receiving a broadcast, or obtained by downloading from a server (not shown) via a network.

In the authoring device 11, the acquired content is further edited, if necessary, and supplied to the processing unit 12.

In step S2, the processing section 12 executes a process of converting one input content to another format. This processing includes, of course, outputting the content as it is (formatting it as it is).

Next, in step S3, the processing unit 12
Determines whether processing for converting one content into all formats has been performed, and if there is a format that has not been converted yet, returns to step S2 and repeatedly executes the subsequent processing. I do.

If it is determined in step S3 that the contents have been converted into all the formats, the process proceeds to step S4, where the processing unit 12 determines whether or not all the contents have been processed. If remains, the process returns to step S1, and the subsequent processes are repeatedly executed. If it is determined in step S4 that all contents have been processed, the processing ends.

As described above, in this case, one content is stored in the storage unit 14 in five types of formats. Such contents are stored in the plural types storage unit 14.

Next, referring to the flowchart of FIG.
Processing for distributing content from the center 1 to the terminals 41-1 to 41-n will be described.

In step S11, the storage unit 14
One content is selected from the stored contents. Then, in step S12, the selected content is transmitted to each terminal 41 via the dedicated line 31.
-1 to 41-n.

In step S13, the storage unit 14
It is determined whether or not all the contents have been distributed. If there is any content that has not been distributed yet, the process returns to step S11, and the subsequent processing is repeatedly executed.

If it is determined in step S13 that all contents have been distributed, the process proceeds to step S14, and the storage unit 14 determines whether the GUI module 22 has already been distributed. If the GUI module 22 has not been distributed yet, the process proceeds to step S15, where the storage unit 14 reads out the GUI module 22 and
Via the terminal 41-1 to 41-n. If it is determined in step S14 that the GUI module 22 has already been distributed, the processing in step S15 is skipped.

In response to such a distribution process, the terminal 41
Executes the processing shown in the flowchart of FIG.

In step S31, the CPU of the terminal 41
When the communication unit 109 receives the content via the dedicated line 31, the 101 registers the content in the storage unit 108 (corresponding to the storage unit 51 in FIG. 1).

The CPU 101 determines in step S32
It is determined whether or not all the contents have been received, and if there are still unreceived contents, the process returns to step S31, and the subsequent processing is repeatedly executed.

If it is determined in step S32 that all contents have been received, the process proceeds to step S33, where the CPU 101 determines whether the GUI module 22 has been received. If the GUI module 22 has not been received, the process proceeds to step S34, and the CPU 101
Receives the GUI module 22 and causes the storage unit 108 to store it.

If it is determined in step S33 that the GUI module 22 has already been received, the processing in step S34 is skipped.

Next, referring to the flowchart of FIG.
A process in which the terminals 41-1 to 41-n provide content to the user will be described. In the following,
The terminal 41-1 will be described, but the processing of the other terminals is the same. This process is started when the GUI is displayed and the user selects a predetermined title based on the GUI.

That is, the CPU 101 executes the GUI module 2
2 is started, and a selection screen for selecting a content is displayed on the display unit constituting the output unit 107. FIG.
Represents a display example in this case. In this display example, the contents of ten titles, title 1 to title 10, are displayed.

When the input unit 106 is operated by the user and a scroll is instructed, the CPU 101 scrolls the title displayed on the selection screen and displays the next ten titles. In this way, the user 61 can display the desired title on the output unit 107.

In this example, each title is
It is composed of data in five formats. For example,
The content of title 1 is composed of five types of content data of format 1 to format 5. The same applies to the contents of titles 2 to 10.
However, as shown in FIG. 7, the GUI module 22 adds the titles of these five types to one.
Display as one title.

It is also possible to display five types of contents of each title as different contents. However, in such a case, the content of substantially only two titles can be displayed on one display screen. On the other hand, as shown in FIG.
By ignoring the format difference and displaying the title, more titles can be displayed on the screen. This allows the user to more quickly select a desired title from among many titles.

When a desired title is displayed, the user 61 operates the input unit 106 to specify the title.

In step S51, the terminal 41-1
The CPU 101 attaches, to the output unit 107 (corresponding to the output interface 54 in FIG. 1), the recording medium 71-i that the user 61 has brought or that the user 61 has purchased at the store where the terminal 41-1 is installed. The CPU 101 proceeds to step S52 when attached, and identifies the format of the attached recording medium 71-i. That is, as described above, when the recording medium 71-i is mounted, the output unit 107 (corresponding to the output interface 54) has a function of checking the format of the mounted recording medium 71-i. . Output unit 107
Detects the format of the attached recording medium 71-i, and notifies the CPU 101 of the detection result.

The CPU 101 determines in step S53
Step S from the contents of the selected title
The content in the format of the recording medium obtained as a result of the identification in step 52 is read from the storage unit 108 and
07 is transferred to the recording medium attached thereto and recorded.

Therefore, the user 61 can quickly and reliably purchase desired content without being conscious of the format.

In the above, the corresponding format is checked from the recording medium. However, it is of course possible for the user to specify the format. In this case, the process of step S52 in FIG. 6 is omitted. Then, in step S53, the CPU 101 changes the selection screen previously displayed as shown in FIG. 7 as shown in FIG.

FIG. 8 shows a display example when title 3 is selected. As shown in FIG.
Is selected, five types of formats prepared as title 3 data are displayed below the title 3. The user 61 operates the input unit 106 to select and designate one predetermined format from the five types of formats. The CPU 101 reads the content in the specified format from the storage unit 108 and records the content on the recording medium.

The present invention can be applied to a case where text and other contents are provided in addition to so-called AV contents such as audio and video. Also, in the above, the content is
However, the content can be transmitted via an arbitrary transmission path such as a telephone line, the Internet, or a satellite.

The series of processes described above can be executed by hardware, but can also be executed by software. When a series of processing is executed by software, a program constituting the software executes various functions by installing a computer built in dedicated hardware or installing various programs. For example, it is installed in a general-purpose personal computer or the like from a network or a recording medium.

As shown in FIG. 2, the recording medium is a magnetic disk 1 on which the program is recorded, which is distributed separately from the apparatus main body to provide the program to the user.
21 (including floppy disk), optical disk 122
(CD-ROM (Compact Disk-Read Only Memory), DVD (Digita
l Versatile Disk), magneto-optical disk 123
(Including an MD (Mini-Disk)) or a package medium including a semiconductor memory 124 and the like.
2 and a hard disk included in the storage unit 108.

In this specification, the step of describing a program recorded on a recording medium is not limited to processing performed in chronological order according to the described order, but is not necessarily performed in chronological order. This also includes processing executed in parallel or individually.

In this specification, the system is
It represents the entire device composed of a plurality of devices.

[0060]

As described above, according to the information processing apparatus and method, the recording medium, and the program of the present invention, the same screen having different formats is displayed on the selection screen for selecting a predetermined content from a plurality of contents. Since the content is displayed as one content, it is possible to display many content on a narrow selection screen, and one content is quickly and reliably selected from many content. It becomes possible.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a content providing system to which the present invention has been applied.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a terminal in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating registration processing of the center in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a content distribution process of the center in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a content receiving process of the terminal in FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a content output process of the terminal in FIG. 1;

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of a title selection screen.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing another example of a title selection screen.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 center, 11 authoring device, 12 processing unit, 13 GUI module creation unit, 14 storage unit,
41-1 to 41-n terminals

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page F-term (reference) 5B075 ND20 NR02 NR14 NS10 PP03 PP13 PQ02 UU40 5B082 GA02 GC01 GC03 GC04 5C053 FA23 FA24 FA27 GA14 JA01 JA03 JA07 JA16 KA01 KA24 KA26 LA15 5C059 LA02 PP04 RC32 SS01 SS07 SS08 SS08 SS08 SS30

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A storage means for storing a plurality of identical contents having different formats, and a selection screen for selecting a predetermined content from among the plurality of contents, the same contents having different formats are displayed in one Display control means for displaying the content so that the content is displayed; and 1 of the contents displayed on the selection screen.
A first selecting unit for selecting one of the contents; a second selecting unit for selecting the content in one format from the contents selected by the first selecting unit; and a second selecting unit. An output unit for outputting the selected content in one format. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising detecting means for detecting a format of a recording medium for outputting the content, wherein the second selecting means selects the content in a format corresponding to the format detected by the detecting means. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein: 3. When one of the contents is selected by the first selection means, a format display means for displaying the format corresponding to the content, and a format display means for displaying the format corresponding to the content. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising designating means for designating a predetermined content, wherein the second selecting means selects the content in a format corresponding to the format designated by the designating means. 3. Information processing device. 4. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the content is music data or video data. 5. A storage step for storing a plurality of identical contents having different formats, and a selection screen for selecting a predetermined content from among the plurality of contents, the same contents having different formats are displayed as one A display control step of displaying the content so as to be a content, and 1 of the content displayed on the selection screen
A first selection step of selecting one content; a second selection step of selecting the content in one format from the content selected by the processing of the first selection step; and the second selection. An output step of outputting the content in one format selected by the processing of the step. 6. A storage step of storing a plurality of identical contents having different formats, and a selection screen for selecting a predetermined content from among the plurality of contents, the same content having different formats is displayed as one A display control step of displaying the content so that the content is displayed; and 1 of the contents displayed on the selection screen.
A first selection step of selecting one content; a second selection step of selecting the content in one format from the content selected by the processing of the first selection step; and the second selection. And an output step of outputting the content in one format selected by the processing of the step. 7. A storage step of storing a plurality of identical contents having different formats, and a selection screen for selecting a predetermined content from among the plurality of contents, the same contents having different formats are displayed as one A display control step of displaying the content so as to be a content, and 1 of the content displayed on the selection screen
A first selection step of selecting one content; a second selection step of selecting the content in one format from the content selected by the processing of the first selection step; and the second selection. An output step of outputting the content in one format selected by the step processing.